Holding Midfield: Short termism at Chelsea

[Holding Midfield]

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I remember listening to Talksport after Chelsea had lost the first leg of their round of sixteen tie 3-1 to Napoli. Jason Cundy, although disappointed at the loss, talked about the fact that relieving Andre Villas Boas of his duties may not be the best thing to do, as he was slowly trying to evolve an aging Chelsea side after years of things staying the same. Andy Goldstein, ever the wind-up merchant, opted to mock him about this, but when you look at the Chelsea’s transfer history, Cundy may have a point. Let’s look at Chelsea’s transfers since Jose Mourinho left but before Villas Boas came in, including loans and their ages when bought: Now when we look at this, it does not look like they have bought many old players at all – only adding up to an average age of 24.6. However when we look at who was signed when they were 25 and under and has received regular games during their time at the club excluding loans, which are normally short term, there are only five players: Branislav Ivanovic, Jose Bosingwa, Daniel Sturridge, Ramires and David Luiz. We also have to remember that Sturridge has only started [...]

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